Diana M. Bonta,

Select Other Member: Haroutune Armenian Michael Belman Diana M. Bonta Michael Collins Pamela Davidson Aram Dobalian Jeanne Flores Paul Fu, Jr. Deborah Glik Fred Hagigi Robert Kim-Farley Martin Lee Jeff Luck Jack Needleman Thomas Priselac Dylan Roby Hector Rodriguez Stuart Schweitzer Marc Strassburg Bonnie Taub Antronette Yancey Becky Yano

Vice President
Public Affairs for Southern California Region, Kaiser Permanente
E-mail: diana_bonta@hotmail.com

Former Director
California Department of Health Services

Diana M. Bonta joined Kaiser Permanente in October 2004 as Vice President, Public Affairs for the Southern California Region. Dr. Bonta is responsible for setting the Southern California region's policy agenda, leadership and oversight of Public Affairs programs including support for Kaiser Permanente's internal communications and reputation management. Kaiser Permanente provides health care to approximately 3 million members from Bakersfield to San Diego. The company employs 3,600 physicians and 42,000 employees working in 11 major medical centers and 100 medical offices. Dr. Bonta also manages several initiatives, including projects that fund collaborative efforts to provide clinic-based care to the uninsured and produce educational programs on nutrition and physical activity
Previously, Dr. Bonta served as the Director of Department of Health Services for the State of California. Appointed by California Governor, Grey Davis, Dr. Bonta led initiatives to address critical public health issues and health protection programs for 35 million California residents. Among her many accomplishments, she was instrumental in reducing the lung cancer death rate by significantly strengthening the State's anti-smoking campaign. She administered the State's Medicaid program and increased access to healthcare for an additional one million uninsured children through MediCal and Healthy Families program expansions. Prior to her work at the state level, Bonta served as the Director of Health and Human Services for the City of Long Beach.

Before joining the State, Dr. Bonta handled daily operations for the California and Los Angeles Family Planning Councils as deputy executive director. Dr. Bonta began her career as a registered nurse and worked in Pediatrics, ER and ICU.

In 2005, Dr. Bonta was appointed to the CEPH board by the American Public Health Association, representing the field of public health practice. A winner of numerous awards including the American Public Health Association Presidential Citation Award and being named to Hispanic Magazine 100 Leading Latinas; Dr. Bonta is an adjunct associate professor at the University of California Los Angeles where she received her doctorate and masters degrees in public health. A New York City native, she received her bachelor's degree in nursing from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her associate of arts degree in nursing from Bronx Community College.

Diana lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Frank, and has three children and two grandchildren. She has been nominated or appointed to over 24 governance and advisory positions and is currently a Board of Trustee of the Health Professions Education Foundation.